ACC Notebook: Maryland only team that controls its destiny in wild Atlantic race

The Atlantic Coast Conference has calculated that 128 possible ways exist for the Atlantic Division to end, thanks mainly to the three front-runners, Florida State, North Carolina State and Maryland, all losing last week.

Even Boston College, apparently out of it three weeks ago after losing to Maryland to go 0-4 in the league, isn’t completely eliminated. Neither is Clemson. Only Wake Forest, which has yet to win a league game, has no mathematical chance.

Entering Saturday’s games, Maryland (6-3, 3-2) is the only team that controls its own destiny. The Terrapins will clinch the division, regardless of what the other teams do, as long as they win their last three games, against Virginia, FSU and N.C. State.

Because it has played one more league game, FSU (6-3, 4-2) has a bit of an inside track on Maryland and the Wolfpack (6-3, 3-2). If the Seminoles beat Clemson on Saturday and beat Maryland next week, and N.C. State loses a game against either Wake, at North Carolina or at Maryland, FSU wins the division and plays in the ACC championship game, likely against Virginia Tech.

The Wolfpack holds the head-to-head tiebreaker against FSU. The other head-to-head tiebreakers will be decided once the ’Noles and N.C. State play Maryland.

It could still get crazy. There’s even the possibility of a five-way tie for the division lead that also would involve Clemson (5-4, 3-3) and Boston College (4-5, 2-4). If head-to-head matchups don’t break ties, the BCS ratings are next.

As a last resort, a drawing of the Atlantic representative to break any ties is possible.

Chasing Irvin

Miami senior wide receiver Leonard Hankerson has found himself in excellent company among Hurricanes’ wide receivers.

Hankerson’s TD reception last week to beat Maryland 20-18 was his 10th of the season, tying him for second on the Miami single-season list with Reggie Wayne, Andre Johnson and Lamar Thomas. Hankerson had nine TD receptions in his first three seasons at UM.

His next TD catch will put Hankerson in even better company. That will tie him for the team’s single-season record with Michael Irvin. Hankerson potentially has four more games — three in the regular season and a bowl — to catch and then pass Irvin.

“I don’t think about the record at all,” Hankerson told the Associated Press. “I just think about going out and making plays, making plays for my team, doing what I have to do for us to win games. It’d be very nice to have, and I know the record is there, but I’ve just got to go out and focus on my game. Whatever happens, happens.”

Collision course

Three weeks ago, Boston College lost at home to Maryland, and Duke lost at Virginia Tech.

At the time, the two teams were at the bottom of their respective ACC divisions (BC in the Atlantic and Duke in the Coastal) with a combined overall record of 3-11, and a combined league record of 0-8.

Saturday, the teams meet at Duke (it’s BC’s first game ever in Durham, N.C.), each on two-game winning steaks that hardly anyone thought possible. The Eagles (4-5, 2-4) defeated Clemson and Wake Forest, and the Blue Devils (3-6, 1-4) beat Navy and Virginia.

Both teams have gone about their modest winning streaks in different ways. Duke has scored 89 points in those two games after scoring an average of 14 points in the previous five games. BC has held its opponents to a combined 23 points, after yielding an average of 28.4 points in the previous five games.

While the Eagles are only two years removed from being in the ACC championship game and played in a bowl last year, Duke’s victory over Virginia last week was its first in November since 2004.

Former BC player killed

Robert Ziminski, who played defensive end for Boston College from 2002-2005, was killed in a one-car accident last Sunday in Canton, Mass.

Etc.

N.C. State coach Tom O’Brien, Miami coach Randy Shannon and Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer are among the 15 semifinalists for the first Joseph V. Paterno Award, which will be presented as the Maxwell Football Club’s college coach of the year. The winner is based on success on the football field, his team’s academic record and community involvement. Three finalists will be announced Dec. 6 and the winner named Dec. 18. …After Duke sold out its first two home games, an average of only 25,313 fans have seen the past three at Wallace Wade Stadium.